i ventured out into the winter cold last night to check out the remake of my bloody valentine. despite its reputation as a minor classic in the genre, i’ve never been a big fan of the original film — yet i had high hopes for the ‘re-imagining,’ or whatever the currently popular euphemism for ‘recycling old ideas’ is.
how was it? after the climatic moment of a particularly gruesome death sequence (of which there were many), the patron sitting next to me exclaimed “holy shit, that was bad-ass, dawg!” while i may have stated it in slightly different terms, that statement rather concisely describes my feelings about the film as a whole.
at least when seen in the recommended number of dimensions (no less than three), my bloody valentine is an amazing experience. with a smart script, likable characters, and, most importantly, the proper hard-edged slasher/exploitation film tone, this is the film that i was expecting and hoping hatchet would be. throw in the clever use of Real3D technology, a truly scary villain, jensen ackles (supernatural), and tom atkins — and it’s very hard to find anything not to like. it may not be the greatest slasher film of all time, but it is certainly the best in quite a while. while it’s probably just wishful thinking, i can’t help but hope that the likely success of this film and the upcoming friday the 13th remake will usher in a revival of the genre. hopefully a revival more similar in tone and sensibility to the early 80s (when the original friday the 13th and my bloody valentine were created) rather than the self-referential and overly-hip days of the mid 90s ushered in by scream.
to summarize: not only is this the first decent slasher film in recent memory, but it’s the first to be presented in 3d in 27 years. any fan of the genre should go see it, go see it in 3d, and go see it with friends. i’m currently working on a post of the best and worst of 2008… but i’m already fairly certain my bloody valentine will be on my list of best for 2009.
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